Action for week of December 11, 2011 | United Opt Out National

Action for week of December 11, 2011 | United Opt Out National:

Action for week of December 11, 2011

by Peg

For the week of December 11th we are asking everyone to spread the word of January 7th, National Opt Out Day, by sharing it on Facebook. Last week we asked that the information be placed in your email signature – easy peasy way to spread the word without any legwork. This week, make it go viral on FB!! Here is the info to share:

United Opt Out National has declared January 7th as National Opt Out Day. On this day we are encouraging Occupy movements everywhere to endorse this action. We are asking parents, students and community members to write letters/postcards to their school districts stating how they will OPT OUT. We have created a postcard that allows for multiple ways to opt out and it can be purchased in bulk to share. Of course, the slam dunk is opting out of the state test as this will shut down corporate education reform. If everyone opts out in mass they will have NO test data to punish students, teachers and communities. Our postcards can be found at http://www.zazzle.com/unitedoptout.

Schools Matter: Diane Ravitch, December 9, 2011

Schools Matter: Diane Ravitch, December 9, 2011:

Diane Ravitch, December 9, 2011

by Jim Horn

NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO LEARNSUMMIT

December 9, 2011

Diane Ravitch

My theme for today: Whosechildren have been left behind?

Let me tell you a little bitabout myself. For many years, I was a strong advocate of testing, accountability,and choice. I worked in three conservative think tanks where these ideas wereheld sacred. In 1998, I went to Albany, New York, to testify on behalf ofcharter legislation. At the time I was connected to the conservative ManhattanInstitute. I thought that testing would help diagnose the problems thatchildren had and enable teachers to identify their needs. I thought thatcharters would enroll the kids who had failed in regular public schools or whowere not well served by regular public schools. I thought that charters wouldcollaborate with the public schools.

In a book published last year,I said that I was wrong. I was wrong on every count. Testing should be

Walker: Destroying the Teaching Profession in Wisconsin « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!

Walker: Destroying the Teaching Profession in Wisconsin « Larry Miller's Blog: Educate All Students!:

Walker: Destroying the Teaching Profession in Wisconsin

by millerlf

Will Anyone Want to Teach in Wisconsin

By Lisa Kaiser ExpressMilwaukee 12/8/11

Milwaukee-area teachers say they would not encourage anyone to pursue a career in education, according to a new survey conducted by the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), which represents educators across the state.

Three-fourths of the 3,800 educators surveyed said morale has gotten worse since February, when Gov. Scott Walker introduced a bill that gutted public employees’ bargaining rights and required them to pay more into their health care and pension benefits.

In contrast, a mere 5.6% of surveyed teachers, counselors, library media specialists and support staff said that

School Board Member Fails NCLB Test

by millerlf

When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids

Revealed: The school board member who took standardized test

This was written by Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author. 12/05/2011

A longtime friend on the school board of one of the largest school systems in America did something that few public servants are willing to do. He took versions of his state’s high-stakes standardized math and reading testsfor 10th graders, and said he’d make his scores public.

By any reasonable measure, my friend is a success. His now-grown kids are well-educated. He has a big house in a good part of town. Paid-for condo in the Caribbean. Influential friends. Lots of frequent flyer miles. Enough time of his own to give serious attention to his school board responsibilities. The margins of his electoral wins and his good relationships with administrators and teachers testify to his openness to dialogue and willingness to listen.

He called me the morning he took the test to say he was sure he hadn’t done well, but had to wait for the

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone Is 99% Road Apples

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Little Evan Stone Is 99% Road Apples:

Little Evan Stone Is 99% Road Apples

by noreply@blogger.com (Bronx Teacher)

Did you know that Little Evan Stone of Educators 4 Excellence is amongst the 99%? Yes, that is a fact. We here at SBSB couldn't believe it ourselves when we were sent the link to Little Evan's Google+ page last week. The photo was very grainy and since the crack team and myself believe in objective bloggerism, we had to wait for all the facts to come in before we decided to have a go. Wait, that is not the truth. The truth is we it

Schools Matter: As New Pilgrims

Schools Matter: As New Pilgrims:

As New Pilgrims

by Jim Horn

As New Pilgrims

Captainless,

but with a solid rudder and hull,

we took our turns at the tiller,

those out on the rail repeating

orders on trim to the mid-deck

who, in turn, yelled back

to the helmsman when to steer

up into the needling gale.

We knew exactly why we were going

and precisely where we were headed,

even as our charts were old and inexact,

leaving much to imagination and luck

Saturday coffee + Old school. « Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky:

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

Occupy Moscow.

Chicago had its first measurable snow this week. When I let Ulysses out this morning it was 18 degrees.

After coffee, food shopping and dropping clothes off at the cleaners, it was holiday shopping for the grand kids. A small old-time toy store in Lincoln Square was where we headed. In fact, it’s called Old Time Toy Store.

We know we could probably buy everything we ended up buying on Amazon. But we have bought toys there for years. They wrap them. They ship them. The guy behind the counter wears a badly fitted elf hat. The only advantage Amazon has over Old Time Toy Store is that two Saturdays before Christmas it’s a little hard to park. On the other hand, we get to touch and look at the stuff and end up buying the wind-up toy at the counter we

Where is the NEA leadership headed just at the time when we need a fighting union?

by Fred Klonsky

In Illinois Senate Bill 7 took away our seniority rights and tenure rights and the right to bargain teacher evaluation at the local level. Chicago teachers had their ability to strike made more difficult. Teacher evaluations are now tied to student test performance. This was done with the willing collaboration of the leadership of the Illinois Education Association. Thre was no rank and file voice.

In Michigan, the Michigan Education Association is under assault by the Republicans who control the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the legislature. It is not just their right to collectively bargain, but their right to exist that is being challenged.

Old school.

by Fred Klonsky

The Pretenders.

I Ain’t Emailing! « My Island View

I Ain’t Emailing! « My Island View:

I Ain’t Emailing!

by tomwhitby

I am often intrigued by the controversy surrounding the contraction, “ain’t” which, to the best of my knowledge, has been created by the American education system. Contractions are an informal form of the English Language and should not be used when formal language is required. We generally speak informally, but when it comes to writing, we employ the formal language. That being said, the acceptable contraction for “am not” is “ain’t”, therefore it can only be correctly used with the pronoun “I” as in I ain’t going to do that!” The problem occurred when people tried using it with other nouns or pronouns. “We ain’t going!” would then mean “We am not going!” “Jim ain’t here” would be Jim am not here, hence the misuses grew. The solution was easy. Rather than teach to correct use of that contraction, teachers banned its use altogether and made every attempt to have it stricken from every lexicon in the English-speaking world. Even as I write this post, the application, Microsoft Word is red-marking this paragraph like there will be no tomorrow. Of course I will need to ignore the rule, since it has

Sit Down, Let’s #Chat! (My Twitter PLN) « Diary of a Public School Teacher!

Sit Down, Let’s #Chat! (My Twitter PLN) « Diary of a Public School Teacher!:

Sit Down, Let’s #Chat! (My Twitter PLN)

by Oldschoolteach

I stumbled on the 4th grade chat (#4thchat) by accident. I was minding my business, perusing tweets, when this great conversation appeared before me. I had no idea what #chats were, I had never been a part of it,and I was kind of wary of jumping into someone else’s conversation. But I did, and I was glad. They welcomed me with open arms and I learned, and shared, so much from the teachers who participated. Kudos to the person or persons who came up with this idea!

So what is a #chat? And how do you get to be a part of it? Well, you need Internet access, a device that will get you on the Internet, and a Twitter account. Now, I know some of you think Twitter is for tweens, teenagers, etc…, but guess what? It’s also for teachers!

The #chats are hosted on the same day, at the same time, once a week. . Prior to

Judith Warner: Why Are The Rich So Interested in Public School Reform? | TIME Ideas | TIME.com

Judith Warner: Why Are The Rich So Interested in Public School Reform? | TIME Ideas | TIME.com:

EDUCATION

Why Are the Rich So Interested in Public-School Reform?

They want to remake America's students in their own high-achieving image, but they're overlooking socioeconomics

By JUDITH WARNER | @judithwarner | December 9, 2011 | 5

inShare8

GETTY IMAGES

Warner's latest book is We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication.

It was perhaps inevitable that the political moment that has given birth to the Occupy movement, pitting Main Street against Wall Street and the 99% against the financial elite, would eventually succeed in making some chinks in the armor of the 1%’s favorite feel-good hobby: the school reform movement.

It’s been a good decade now that the direction of school reform has been greatly influenced by a number of highly effective Master (and Mistress) of the Universe types: men and women like Princeton grad Wendy Kopp, the founder of the Teach for America program, her husband, Harvard graduate Richard Barth, who heads up the charter school Knowledge Is Power Program, the

Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/09/why-are-the-rich-so-interested-in-public-school-reform/#ixzz1g9e9ghO5